Monday, April 23, 2012

Plant ABC's - H is for Hesperaloe Parviflora

I'm continuing my ABCs of plants in my garden series with Hesperaloe parviflora.  You can view the others in the series on my sidebar.


This Texas native is one tough plant.  These hesperaloes were here when we purchased the house in 1995.  I wrote about reworking the original plants in this earlier post.  They have survived in direct sun for up to 10 hours a day in summer without supplemental water for most of the 20 years in this spot.  They are cold hardy in zone 8 and don't seem to mind our occasional torrential rains either.
 

Commonly called Red Yucca it is actually a member of the agave family.  Soft arching leaves resemble ornamental grasses and are not as pointed or sharp as most agaves.


The plant spreads and is easy to divide and transplant, hardly missing a beat.   When we recently planted them in the new landscaping along the driveway we simply divided the existing ones for free plants.


It's hard to see them here along the driveway because the deer have snapped off the blooms even though they don't eat them.

Although they do best in sun, Hesperaloes can take a little shade but will flop over toward the sun and not bloom as well.

Though it does take on a nice violet hue in winter, the summer bloom season is when this plant really shines.  The coral flowers have a yellow edge and attract hummingbirds.


The flowers open in the sun and close in the evening

 
The green seedpods will turn to brown and are unattractive so I remove them by cutting the stalk.

 
The weather this year caused some of the dropped seeds to sprout along the edges of the bed.  I haven't seen seedlings here before and I will dig them out to transplant or share.


Self-cleaning like many xeric plants, the dead leaves eventually fall or can be easily pulled from the plant when they turn brown.


Hesperaloes are available in at least two other colors-- yellow, which looks great against a wall and the bright red 'Brakelights'.  Since we already had so many of the coral, I decided to stick with the same color across the front but might add the others in the back where I enjoy mixing it up a little more.

There's a Giant Hesperaloe available.  You need a lot of room for it as here at The Antique Rose Emporium.

Several years ago I considered replacing them.  That was before two years of drought changed my mind.  Hesperaloe parviflora is a great landscape plant for those hot, dry spots.

14 comments:

  1. These plants THRIVE here in Tucson. Plus the hummers love them right now:) Great plant for low maintenance landscaping....and xeric!! I'm in Zone 9 a/b.

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    1. Thanks Chris, good info for those in the desert.

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  2. This is one of my favorite plants. I like the structure and the toughness of it. Even without the bloomstalk, the plant is a good landscape plant.
    The deer do eat the blooms, here. But then, our deer eat everything.

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    1. Yes and our deer are becoming so tame they won't leave the flowerbeds even when I bang on the watering can. So much for solving the deer problem.

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  3. Great photos of a great plant. I've got at least 7 in my garden and while they haven't bloomed every year they still are a favorite for their structure.

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    1. The blooms likely depend on sunshine availability which is not a problem here.

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  4. I love this plant. I just had to have one after seeing them along the highway in Dallas. I knew they'd be a great easy-maintenance plant. I wonder if those made it through last year's drought, though. Great info on this plant. I didn't realize there was a giant one! That one really makes a statement!

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    1. They were watered a few times through the drought, but others around town survived. They were quite brown.

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  5. I love this plant too. I planted 4 from transplants this winter and they are blooming - so bizarre...there was not a single root on them - it was like sticking sticks in the ground...or cut flowers or something. Well, clearly they rooted, as they are blooming 3 months later - AMAZING!

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    1. They are impressive although it took a few bad weather years for me to fully appreciate them.

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  6. Free hesperaloes! (even I've pulled out a couple volunteers after a monsoon season or two) A number of species, I should post on the ones I see in the Abq-El Paso region. Unless I did and forgot?

    When I started my practice in 1995, I called them "red hesperaloe" instead of "red yucca", due to the prejudice against "yucca", most poorly-used. People heard "aloe", and suddenly it was OK. So much in the name!

    My goal - to design a landscape without using one Hesperaloe parviflora.

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    1. You have done a post on all the hesperaloe varieties you have encountered and it was not too long ago as I remember.

      I'm wondering what you would substitute for them. The whole row along the driveway was free. A few of them would have been $20 size at the nursery so it worked out well.

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  7. I have one of these!! Is there a better time to transplant these plants?
    Thanks!

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    1. They root easily. Here in south Texas we avoid transplanting anything in the hot summer months or winter months. Otherwise they should be fine.

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